[Ekiga-devel-list] Handling ordinary phone numbers ( Yet Another Approach)

[Alec Leamas <leamas alec gmail com>]

Trying to explain this once again, hopefully better. Questions in the end...

The problem I try  to solve is that users typically stores telephone 
numbers, often formatted and without countrycode, whereas Ekiga today 
requires a complete URL to place even an ordinary PSTN call. This makes 
the basic process to call a PSTN number hard, user has to manually 
convert e. g., '070-543 22 11' to sip:+46705432211 sip diamondcard com 

I have written a piece of code which converts numbers to sip: urls. It's 
partly a question of handling missing country codes, partly  to remove 
formatting characters as in '070- 543 11 22'. This code of course 
requires some configuration to define user's own countrycode etc. (all 
in total four values). It generates default config values usable for 
most users, and seems to work. It has the potential to let users just 
enter e. g., 070-543 22 11 in Ekiga to place a call instead of a 
complete URL.

My problem is if/how to integrate this into Ekiga. More precise, I need 
help to integrate it. The Ekiga code is big, and although I think I'm 
able to produce a set of patches, I will at least need help with where 
in the code I should begin, and certainly other things as well. I really 
can't be on my own in this, it's to much for a newbie...

So: first question: Would this overall be a Good Thing, something that 
makes Ekiga more usable, and thus worth some effort?

Second question. I have done a simple plan: 
http://mumin.dnsalias.net/ekiga-callto-ui/patches.html. Is this reasonable?

Third question. There is some UI impact, described in 
http://mumin.dnsalias.net/ekiga-callto-ui/index.html. Does this seems OK?

Last question: Depending on the outcome of the other questions, how 
should I proceed with the first patch, to integrate a set of new source 
files related to PSTN management into Ekiga?

Some background material: usecases defined in a few "stories:" 
http://mumin.dnsalias.net/ekiga-callto-ui/stories.html